SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. — In a back-and-forth battle, Rebecca Jones of Chester, Va., edged out Lisa Munson of Marysville, Wash., to win the Women's Open division title at the 2010 U.S. Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) Area 1 Regional Handgun Championship this past weekend.

Throughout the match the two shooters alternated stage wins with Munson winning the second, fourth, fifth, eighth and final stage of match while Jones claimed top honors on the third, sixth, seventh, ninth and 10th.

Each shooter took her turn in the lead with Jones overtaking Munson on the 10th stage and holding on through the final stage to edge her out by just 6.7627 points. Jones’ final score of 902.1975 not only won her the title but placed her 16th overall in the highly competitive field which included 5 Grand Masters – the highest skill level in the sport – and 14 Masters.

Munson, a Cameron’s Custom Guns shooter who is ranked a Master, finished the match in second place, and 18th overall, with a score of 895.4348.

“USPSA can easily lay claim to the top women competitors in the shooting sports, and there can be no two better examples than Rebecca and Lisa. Both are fierce competitors and past national champions, and their outstanding performance at the 2010 Area 1 championship demonstrates why the best shooters in the world are competing in USPSA,” said Michael Voigt, president of the U.S. Practical Shooting Association.

Rounding out the top five in the Women's Open contest were Carrie Homburg of Idaho Falls, Idaho, who was the only other shooter to win a stage, shooting a score of 785.8314, Danielle Kohler of Deeth, Nev., in fourth with 663.1282, and Sandy Fuller of La Grande, Ore., in fifth with 627.1179.

The match, which was held June 24-27 at the South East Idaho Practical Shooters range in Idaho Falls, Idaho, drew 325 top shooters.

Area 1 is one of the eight USPSA shooting regions in the country and is made up of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, but shooters from 12 other states, as well as Canada, competed for the championship title in USPSA’s Open, Limited, Limited-10, Production, Revolver and Single Stack divisions.

The sport of Practical Shooting was formally established in 1976 but traces its roots back to the 1950’s and the quick draw “leather slap” competitions that grew out of America's love affair with the TV westerns of that era.

Today the sport boasts more than 19,000 shooters and represents the upper echelon of the shooting sports with many of its top competitors actively training law enforcement and military units on the shooting techniques and equipment developed in competition.